The Perfect Soldier: Special Operations, Commandos, and the Future of Us Warfare by James F. Dunnigan
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Dirty Little Secrets
Hornets Given the Eyes of an Eagle
by James Dunnigan
June 14, 2005
Discussion Board on this DLS topic
U.S. Navy aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf still provide bombers for combat
operations in Iraq. Usually it's only one carrier these days. In addition to
some patrols over the Persian Gulf, a carrier typically puts 28 sorties over
Iraq each day. Each sortie lasts 5-6 hours, and most of that time is spent just
circling, waiting for the call from down below. Flight operations usually end at
about 1 AM. Even the terrorists don’t like to work the pre-dawn hours. Flight
operations usually start again just before noon. The carrier takes a break every
14 days, to give the flight and deck crews some time off.
Few bombs are
dropped by these carrier aircraft because, despite breathless media reports of
each terrorist attack, there are not that many attacks, and the enemy has
learned not to be around right after an attack is made. Any terrorist dumb
enough, or unlucky enough, to get into a prolonged fight, will quickly receive a
500 pound smart bomb. And the battle will be over. So the carrier fighters,
usually F-18s, sometimes get called on, especially at night, to use the night
sensors on their targeting pods, to check out what's going on down below. The
F-18s can also fly quite low, as Iraq has been declared a “low threat” zone,
because of the infrequency of ground fire. Sometimes the F-18s come in low and
hit a target with their 20mm cannon, but most of the time, a 500 pound smart
bomb will do the job.
The call for F-18s to scan the ground below is all
because of the new Advanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infrared (ATFLIR). This
$1.2 million device, which is considered about five times more effective than
earlier models, can clearly see people on the ground from 40 kilometers away,
and 6-7 kilometers up. Pilots can see people with guns hiding on roofs, or
behind buildings, waiting to ambush approaching coalition or Iraqi troops or
convoys. Magnification at night is 30 times, and 60 times during the day. But at
night, the ATFLIR gets sharper images because it is sensing differences in heat
below. Things cool off rapidly in Iraq after the sun goes down, everything
except the few people running around at night. The pilots like using the ATFLIR
for this kind of reconnaissance, because they know it saves the lives of troops
who would otherwise get ambushed. Unfortunately, there are only enough of the
new ATFLIR to equip 20-30 percent of the F-18s on a carrier. So the 429 pound
ATFLIR has to be constantly swapped on and off aircraft to keep most of those
F-18s on patrol equipped with it. This takes about 45 minutes, and causes more
wear and tear on the ATFLIR. Only four ATFLIRs are being produced each month,
and it only entered service earlier this year.
Whenever there is a major
operation on the ground, the F-18s and their ATFLIR are in demand, because of
the combination of clear pictures (on a TV screen in the cockpit) of what is
going on down there, and half a dozen smart bombs on board.
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